Hoax calls spell trouble for teen

A 16-year-old boy with a fetish for speaking to women, made around 1400 prank calls in less than 50 days to the police control room (PCR) where women constables received the calls.

The boy’s “dream run” came to an end after a team from the Karol Bagh police station traced and apprehended him from his home in Narela, where he lives with his parents.

He made maximum calls to the PCR as the number 100 is toll-free.

On an average, the boy made 30 hoax calls every day about sensational crime incidents, the police said.

Devesh Chandra Srivastava, additional commissioner of police (central), said, “We have taken strict action against hoax callers in the past. But as this culprit is a juvenile, we had to follow the Juvenile Justice Act.”

A senior police officer said that the boy was traced after his phone’s international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number was put under surveillance.

“We learnt that the SIM card being used was issued in the name of one Zarina Khatoon of Bawana. A team was sent to trace Zarina but the address was fake,” said the officer.

Investigators then focused on another mobile number that was being used from the same phone.

“The second SIM card was issued in the name of one Ram Dev Ram, a resident of Narela. Further investigation revealed that both SIM cards were sold from Jai Mata Communications, a mobile shop in Narela,” said the officer.

A team was sent to the shop but it was closed. Inquiry revealed that a boy was seen constantly making calls.

“We traced the boy and found 1387 calls to the police control room from his mobile phone, the IMEI number of which matched with the one we were looking for.” added the officer.

“He said he was obsessed with speaking to women. And since 100 is a toll-free number attended mostly by women officers, the boy got addicted to it,” he concluded.